COIFEDERATE DEFENCE 



OF 



MORRIS ISLAND 

CHARLESTON HARBOR, 

BY THE 

TROOPS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA AND NORTH CAROLINA, 



IN THE 



LATE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES, 

With a Map of Morris and Part of Folly Islands, 
AND A Plan of F«ort Wagner. 



Prepared from Official Reports and otlier sources 
By Maj. ROBERT C. GILCHRIST, 

a Participant, Commanding the Gist Guard Artillery in that Defence. 



[FROM THE YEAR BOOK— 1884.] 



CONFEDERATE DEFENCE 



OF 



MORRIS ISLAND 

CHARLESTON HARBOR, 

BY THE 

TROOPS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA AND NORTH CAROLINA, 



LATE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES, 

With a Map of Morris and Part of Folly Islands, 
AND a Plan of Fort Wagner. 



Prepared from Official T-ieports and other sources 
By Maj. ROBERT C. QILCHRIST, 

A PAKTiriPANT, Commanding the Gist Guard Artillery in that Defence. 



[FROM THE YEAR BOOK— 1884.] 






THE NEWS AND COURIER BOOK PRESSES, 
19 Broad Street, Charleston, S. C. 



In exch, 
D. of 0. Pub. I*ib. 



^ 



CONFEDERATE DEFENCE OF MORRIS ISLAND. 



^ Skirting along ship channel-, the main entrance into 
Charleston harbor, and thus commanding the only approach 
for large vessels to the city, is MoRRIS ISLAND : forever 
prominent in the history of the United States for being the 
site of the Battery that fired the first shot in the war be- 
tween the States: still later for giving to the world its first 
lesson in iron-clad armor: and more than all, for being the 
theatre of a defence of an earth-work more stubborn and 
brave, of a siege as memorable and bombardments the most 
formidable in the annals of war. 

This Island is three and three-fourths miles long, and 
varies in width from twenty-five to one thousand yards. At 
its Northern extremity it is flat, and with the exception of 
a low line of sand hills is only two feet above high tide. 
Three-fourths of a mile from Cummings Point (where was 
situated Battery Gregg) the marsh on the West encroaches, 
leaving a narrow strip between it and the sea of twenty-five 
yards. Here was located the famed Fort Wagner."^ About 
two thousand yards Southward • thence commences a range 
of hills of various height, stretching to "Oyster Point," the 
Southern end of the Island forming a secure shelter for 
troops. The Island is compose'd of quartz sand, which has 
no cohesion, and weighs, when dry, eighty-six pounds to 
the cubic foot. To its power in resisting the penetration 
of shot, and when displaced of falling back again to the 
very spot it had occupied, is due the comparative invulner- 
ability of the works erected on this Island, advantageous 
alike to its defenders and assailants. 

STAR OF THE WEST BATTERY. 

After Sumter had been occupied by Major Anderson and 
the United States troops under his command against orders, 

*At West Point there are only two models of fortifications used for purposes 
of instruction to the Cadets in the art of attack and defence ; one of th«se is Fort 
Wagner, the other Sebastopol. 



4 Confederate Defenc'e of Morris Island. 

to prevent reinforcements or supplies being sent to this 
garrison, a two gun battery was erected on the Island, about 
fifty or seventy-five yards South from the spot afterwards 
occupied by Fort Wagner. A detachment of Citadel 
Cadets, under Professor (now Bishop) P. F. Stevens, manned 
the guns, supported by the Charleston Zouave Cadets, Capt. 
C. E. Chichester, and German Riflemen, Capt. Jacob Sniall, 
as Infantry. The Vigilant Rifles, eighty strong, under Capt. 
S. Y. Tupper, were stationed at the lower end of the Island to 
dispute a landing. The Battery was of the simplest character. 
Its armament, two 24-pounder siege guns " en barbette," 
without traverses or protection of any kind. It had been 
built very hastily, so that the guns and gunners were en- 
tirely exposed. A broadside of light navy shell guns could 
have disabled it, and the guns of Fort Sumter completely 
commanded it. 

A little after daylight, on the morning of the 9th January, 
1 861, the long roll was beat and the troops were got under 
arms. In the horizon a steamer was descried coming over 
the bar. Whether armed or unarmed no one knew ; but 
the orders from Governor Pickens were positive to fire into 
her and prevent her approach to Sumter. At 7.15 A. M. 
she was within range of the Battery, and Major Stevens 
sighted the guns. Cadet Haynesworth (afterwards a Lieu- 
tenant in the First South Carolina Regulars, and now a 
lawyer in Sumter, S. C.,) held the lanyard of the right gun, 
and at the command fired the FIRST HOSTILE SHOT OF THE 
WAR. It fell across her bows. At this she ran up a large 
United States garrison flag to her fore. As she did not 
stop, other shots were fired as rapidly as the guns could be 
served ; about six in all. She checked her speed and began 
to turn at the fourth .shot. Only three or four struck her, 
doing no damage of any consequence, as the range was great 
for 24-pounders. 

During the firing Sumter ran out her guns, and many an 
anxious eye was cast to the rear, expecting each moment to 
see her belch forth a fire which would have annihilated 
those who had thus dared to fire on the " Stars and Stripes." 



Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 5 

In April the same act set ablaze the Northern heart ; but on 
the 9th January it fell still-born. 

STEVENS' IRON BATTERY. 

When it was determined to invest Fort Sumter and reduce 
it with artillery, among other batteries erected within 
reach, Col. Clem. H. Stevens, a Cashier in the Planters' and 
Mechanics' Bank of Charleston, devised and built at Cum- 
mings Point the first iron-clad armored fortification ever 
erected. Over heavy timbers he placed railroad T iron, 
laid at an angle of from forty to forty-five degrees. 

P'ort Sumter was distant one thousand three hundred and 
ninety yards. Behind this " slaughter-pen," as many called 
it. the Palmetto Guard, Captain G. B. Cuthbert, fought 
through the 12th and 13th of April, 1861, pouring a heavy 
fire into the gorge of Sumter, which replied with a severe 
but ineffectual fire from her heaviest guns. At the close of 
the engagement " Stevens' Battery " was almost intact, 
only an iron cove of port-hole being displaced and one gun 
dismounted. Not a man of its garrison was hurt. This 
astounding success established the value of iron armor, of 
which both sides in the internecine struggle were quick to 
avail themselves, and this experiment has revolutionized 
the navies of the world. 

BRIGADIER-GENERAL R. S. RIPLEY. 

If to one man more than another Charleston was indebted 
for her safety until Sherman knocked at her back door, that 
man was General Ripley. Though by birth a Northerner, 
he was one of the first to offer his sword for the defence of 
the State of his adoption, and to consecrate to her service 
his all of ability, zeal and time. At the time of the bom- 
bardment of Sumter in April, 1861, he commanded Fort 
Moultrie, and it was by the red-hot shot he threw into it, 
that its barracks were set on fire and its surrender compelled. 
For some reason he was not in favor with the powers that 
were in Richmond, and as in this category the General of 



6 Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 

the Department was also placed, he was compelled to rely 
mainly upon his own resources, cramped as they often were 
at critical moments by heavy drafts from the War Depart- 
ment. What he accomplished with the limited material of 
war and small force at his disposal was superhuman. The 
success that crowned his efforts was his only reward. 

FOLLY ISLAND. 

Next South of Morris Island, and separated from it by 
"Light-house Inlet" (four hundred yards wide), is Little 
Folly Island. The topographical features of the North end 
of this Island, bordering on the Inlet, gave to the enemy 
every facility for the concealment of his designs. The sand 
hills alone obscure the view from Morris Island, but these 
were covered with a heavy growth of scrubby trees, which 
ought to have been removed by the Confederates when they 
controlled this stragetic point. Failure to do so enabled 
the Federals, under their cover, to secretly place in bat- 
tery forty-seven pieces of artillery, with two hundred rounds 
of ammunition for each gun, provided with suitable para- 
pets, splinter-proof shelters and magazines, almost within 
speaking distance of the Confederate pickets, and undiscov- 
ered by several reconnoisances made just before the assault 
of July loth. This battery on Little Folly Island was the 
prelude to the memorable siege of Fort Wagner, and rendered 
necessary the fearful sacrifice of life, with the lavish expen- 
diture of treasure that followed its unmasking. 

FAILURE TO FORTIFY SOUTH END OF ISLAND. 

It has always been a vexed question on whom should rest 
the blame for the neglect of this stragetic point. There 
were mutual recriminations and much "bad blood" be- 
tween those who were thought to be responsible for the 
success of the Federals on the loth of July, whicli involved 
the destruction of Fort Sumter, and the long and bloody 
siege of Fort Wagner. But the truth is General Beauregard 
did not believe an attack would be made by this route, and 



Confederate Defence of Morris Island. y 

was firmly persuaded the enemy would again essay an ad- 
vance over James Island.* He, therefore, withdrew all the 
negro laborers from Morris Island to strengthen the fortifi- 
cations elsewhere, leaving the Gist Guard and Matthewes 
Artillery to finish half completed Fort Wagner. And when 
General Ripley, on his own responsibility, and by his own 
Engineer, commenced to fortify the neighborhood of Light- 
house Inlet, he peremptorily commanded the work to stop. 
Later, when it was discovered that General Vogdes was 
doing some work — its extent unknown — on Folly Island, 
General Ripley again, with the tardy consent of General 
Beauregard, sent two companies of the First South Caro- 
lina Artillery, Capt. John C. Mitchell commanding, who, 
with the assistance of the Twenty-first South Carolina Vol- 
unteers, Colonel Graham, built among the sand hills of the 
South end of Morris Island nine independent one gun bat- 
teries, which were eventually to meet the concentrated fire 
of forty-seven guns in the masked Federal Batteries on 
Little Folly Island, and 8, ii and 15-inch guns in the 
Monitors. 

DEFENCE OF CHARLESTON. 

As the "Cradle of Secession," it was the ambition of the 
United States troops, at the very commencement of the war, 
to be possessed of Charleston. Equally determined were 
the Confederates to hold it to the last extremity. The 
effort to take it by a land approach over James Island had 
failed at the battle of Secessionville, i6th June, 1862. Now, 
it became evident, by the concentration of iron-clads, gun- 
boats and transports in the Stono and adjacent waters, that 
a combined land and naval attack would be attempted. 
Two lines were open to their approach — one by way of Sul- 
livan's Island and the other by Morris Island. The former 
was defended by batteries of the most formidable character, 
extending from Breach Inlet on the North to the Cove on 



*" The holding of the position was secondary to that of James Island, which 
must first be secured beyond peril, if possible, of surprise and capture." See 
Cjeneral Beauregard, Vol. 2, p. 493. 



8 Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 

the South, and also by Fort Moultrie (of Revolutionary 
fame), but Morris Island was almost unprotected. 

FORT WAGNER. 

A short time after the battle of Secessionville, Fort Wag- 
ner was commenced. Captains F. D. Lee and Langdon 
Cheves, of the Confederate States Engineer Corps, planned 
and built it. The position before described, about three- 
quarters of a inile to the South of Cummings Pi^'nt, was 
selected for its site. Here the Island is about two hundred 
and fifty yards wide, bounded by Vincent's Creek on the 
West, and the ocean on the East. Immediately in front the 
marsh from Vincent's Creek setting in towards the ocean, 
narrows it to but thirty-three yards, and this marsh even at 
low tides makes an impassable barrier. A low line of sand 
hillocks skirting the beach serves as a partial protection 
from the fleet in the channel, back to Cummings Point.* 
The higher sand hills of the Island are distant to the South 
two thousand yards. The intervening ground being a narrow 
strip, bounded by the ocean on one side, and the marsh on the 
other, of alternating width, from twenty-five to forty yards 
at high tide, along which the sappers and miners had to 
build their approaches. Nature designed this spot for de- 
fence, and there is no other site on the Island equal to it. 
Its distance from Fort Sumter is two thousand seven hun- 
dred and eighty yards. 

DIMENSIONS. 

Fort Wagner was an enclosed earth-work, measuring 
within the interior slopes from East to West si.x hundred 
and thirty feet, and from North to South in extreme width 
two hundred and seventy-five feet. The sea face, measuring 

* This describes this portion of the Island as it was in 1863. Now (1885) 
it is almost on a level with the sea. Vincent's Creek is filled up, and the 
marsh covered with the sand that formed the fort and hills ; not a vestige re- 
mains either of Wagner or the Federal approaches. The sea has cut througli 
between the first and second parallels, dividing the Island into two. We would 
suggest that the smaller of these two islands be hereafter called Wagner Island. 



Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 9 

along the interior crest two hundred and ten feet, contained 
a bomb-proof magazine twenty by twenty feet, forming a 
heavy traverse to protect the three guns North of it from 
the land fire. Behind this sea face, parallel with the beach, 
was the bomb-proof, thirty by one hundred and thirty feet 
within, which could not accommodate more than nine 
hundred men standing elbow to elbow and face to back 
(not fifteen hundred to sixteen hundred men, as Gen. Gil- 
more says), and this capacity was further reduced by cut- 
ting off more than one-third for the hospital. In fact, not 
more than three hundred could, or ever did, obtain shelter 
in it at one time. The land face was irregular with re-enter- 
ing angles, measuring in the whole length six hundred feet, 
with chambers for five guns to sweep the land approach, 
separated by heavy traverses to protect the guns from en- 
filade fire of fleet. The Western portion of the battery was 
an enclosed parade ground, containing one acre. From the 
East face to the beach, protecting the sally-port and extend- 
ing to high water-mark one hundred feet, was an outer 
work pierced for two guns to sweep the sea face. The front 
of the battery was guarded by a ditch, filled with water at 
high tide and retained by sluice gates. Towards the close 
of the siege this ditch was filled with "trous de loups" and 
boards armed with spikes. 

About two hundred and fifty yards in front of Fort Wag- 
ner, just beyond the marsh, was a sand ridge, affording 
shelter for pickets and sharp-shooters, the scene of conflict 
on the nights of August 2ist, 25th and 26th. 

ARMAMENT. 

When direct operations against Fort Wagner commenced 
on the loth July, the fort was armed with the following 
guns: One lo-inch Columbiad, one 32-pounder smooth-bore, 
one 42-pounder carronade, two naval 8-inch shell guns, three 
32-pounder carronades, two 32-pounder siege howitzers, two 
i2-pounder bronze howitzers and one lo-inch mortar. 



lO Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 

GARRISON. 

There were on Morris Island July loth, nine hundred and 
twenty-seven men, Col. R. F. Graham, of the Twenty-first 
South Carolina Volunteers, in command; Lieut-Col. Jos. A. 
Yates, of the First South Carolina Artillery, as Chief of Ar- 
tillery ; Capt. C. E. Chichester, of the Gist Guard Artillery, 
commanding Fort Wagner (by right of seniority). Artillery 
companies: Gist Guard, Lieut. R. C. Gilchrist, and Mat- 
thewes Artillery, Capt. J. R. Matthewes. In Battery Gregg, 
at Cumrnings Point, was Capt. Henry R. Lesesne, of the 
First South Carolina Artillery, with his company. At the 
South end of the Island, defending the nine single batteries 
erected there to dispute landing from Folly Island, were 
Companies I and E, and a detachment of H (two hundred 
men), of the First South Carolina Artillery, Capts. John C. 
Mitchell (son of the Irish patriot) and J. R. Macbeth, and 
Li6ut. H. W. Frost, and a detachment of fifty men of the 
First South Carolina Infantry under Capt. Chas. T. Haskell, 
and the Twenty-first South Carolina Volunteers (six hun- 
dred and twelve men) under Maj. G. W. Mclver. 

It will be well, also, to give Gen. Beauregard's available 
force in his department at this time: Infantry, five thous- 
and two hundred and fifty-six; artillery, five thousand seven 
hundred and ninety-four; cavalry, four thousand three hun- 
dred and eighteen ; grand total, fifteen thousand three hun- 
dred and eighteen ; distributed in Florida, Georgia and 
South Carolina; and for the immediate defence of Charles- 
ton five thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, of all arms. 
Gen. Gilmore had for carrying on offensive operations, after 
leaving Hilton Head and other important points perfectly 
secure, ten thousand infantry, three hundred and fifty heavy 
artillery, six hundred engineer troops, twenty-eight pieces 
flying artillery, completely equipped and mounted ; and 
the following guns : five 200-pounder rifled Parrotts, nineteen 
lOO-pounder rifled Parrotts, twelve 30-pounder Parrotts siege, 
four 20-pounder Parrotts siege, eight pieces field artillery 
dismounted, twelve 13-inch S. C. Mortars, ten lo-inch siege 



Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 1 1 

mortars, five 8-inch siege mortars and three coehorn mortars. 
The entire effective force in South CaroHna was seventeen 
thousand four hundred and sixty-three, officers and men in- 
clusive. The force actually employed on Morris Island at 
one time did not vary much from eleven thousand five hun- 
dred men, aided by a powerful fleet of iron-clads. Opposed 
to them the Confederates never had on the Island more 
than one thousand six hundred and one men, and at times 
this force was reduced to less than one thousand, divided 
between Fort Wagner and Battery Gregg; nor could it in 
any emergency have been increased to any practical extent, 
on account of the limited transportation at command and 
the exposed landing at Cummings Point. 

ENGAGEMENT OF APRIL 7th. 

Fort Wagner proposed to play a very important part 
in the historic attack of the iron-clads of the Federal fleet 
on Fort Sumter ; but, as it is believed, was defeated through 
treachery. Some time before an iron boiler filled with one 
thousand pounds of powder, fitted with electrical appliances 
for exploding it, had been sunk in the channel, one mile and 
a half from and abreast of Wagner. The submarine cable 
stretched to the shore and lay within the fort. A system 
of triangulation from both Gregg and Wagner, marked by 
stakes driven in those batteries, determined its position, and 
for days the opportunity to use it against the fleet had been 
anxiously looked for. At noon on the 7th of April — a lovely 
spring day, the deep blue sky, without a cloud, reflected in 
the bay as smooth as glass — ■\ movement was observed 
among the iron-clads. Soon after they advanced slowly in 
line of battle ; the monitors Weehawken, Passaic, Montauk, 
Patapsco, Catskill, Nantucket, Nahant and Keokuk, with 
the New Ironsides bearing the pennant of Commodore 
Dupont. 

At ten minutes past 3 P. M., Moultrie opened her bat- 
teries ; immediately thereafter Fort Sumter, Battery Gregg, 
and all the iron-clads joined in the thundering chorus^ 



1 2 Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 

" The music of the spheres." The sea seethed as a 
boiling cauldron, as shot and shell, with the debris of 
fort and vessels, plunged into it. Amid this pandemo- 
nium Wagner stood silent, yet all within were nerved 
to the most intense excitement. The long looked for hour 
was at hand when one of those dreaded iron-clad monsters 
would be hurled into the air. The New Ironsides was 
singled out for destruction. One of the Signal Corps had 
been stationed at Battery Gregg, and another at Fort 
Wagner, each with keen eyes watching their respective 
lines of vision. At the electric key stood Capt. Langdon 
Cheves, with his eyes bent on both stations, so that as the 
flags waved in concert, indicating the fateful moment when 
the Ironsides should be over the torpedo, to apply the spark 
and do the deed. Slowly the Ironsides steamed around, 
delivering one terrific broadside after another. Ever and 
anon the flag would wig-wag on Gregg, but Wagner's was 
still ; then that on Wagner, but Gregg's did not reply, and 
so it seemed that hours passed. The garrison intent and 
watching, hearts could almost be heard beating above the 
din of battle. At last both flags waved. Oh, the wild rush 
of hope and joy that overwhelmed them as they felt that 
their hour had come at last. The key was touched once 
and again. All looked breathlessly towards the doomed 
ship. There was no answering explosion. Unconscious of 
the danger she had escaped, she steamed on and delivered 
her broadsides until the action closed. It was said after- 
wards and believed that the ''expert'' who was charged 
with arranging the torpedo was a " Federal spy." 

That afternoon the first blood was spilled in Fort Wag- 
ner. Through disobedience of orders and carelessness, an 
ammunition chest was exploded in the gun chamber of 
Lieut. Steadman of the Matthewes Artillery, killing three 
and wounding five men ; also dismounting the 32-pounder. 

COMMENCEMENT OF HOSTILITIES. 

Unfortunately for the defence of Morris Island, the 



Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 13 

Steamer " Rub}^ " (a blockade-runner) got aground four 
hundred yards from Folly Island, by the South entrance to 
the Light-house Inlet, while the batteries were being built 
to command this approach. The temptation was too strong 
for the needy " Confeds," and while they were busy wreck- 
ing her, the more diligent and wary Federals were employed 
in erecting their ten masked batteries not five hundred yards 
away. This gave a false security to the District Commander, 
who reports the fact to Gen. Beauregard as proof that the 
enemy were not in force on Folly Island. 

The morning of the loth of July, 1863, told a different 
story. Citizens in Charleston, six miles distant, were 
aroused from their slumbers at early dawn by a terrific 
cannonade. Forty-seven pieces of artillery, consisting of 
rifled guns, 20 and 30-pound Parrott's and lo-inch mortars, 
poured an incessant fire on the unfinished Confederate bat- 
teries that were intended to protect .the South end of the 
Island. The monitors Catskill, Montauk, Nahant and Wee- 
hawken steamed up to within less than a mile and delivered, 
enfilade, their broadsides of 11 and 15-inch shot and shell, 
while four howitzer launches opened on the right. Under 
cover of this terrible bombardment, lasting over three 
hours — heard in Edgefield, one hundred and thirty miles 
away — the Ninth Maine, Third New Hampshire, Sixth and 
Seventh Connecticut, Forty-eighth New York and Seventy- 
sixth Pennsylvania, two thousand five hundred men, under 
Brigadier-General Strong, put out in small boats from Folly 
River, and landed on Oyster Point. 

The brave artillerists fought with great determination, 
but their guns were soon disabled, and fhey and the rem- 
nant of Infantry were compelled to retire before the over- 
whelming force, sustaining a loss of two hundred and ninety- 
four, includingsixteen commissioned officers, killed, wounded 
and missing. The Federals lost but fifteen killed and 
ninety-two wounded. 

THE RETREAT. 
It was not until capture was imminent that the few gal- 



14 Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 

lant men remaining, who had sustained this terrific on- 
slaught for three hours, fell back, disputing every inch of 
ground. The four monitors steamed slowly along, as near 
to the shoreas the depth of water would permit, pouring 
in their broadsides of shrapnell and shells. The Federals, 
two thousand five hundred strong, deployed across the 
Island, from shore to shore, and delivered a murderous fire. 
Two companies of the Seventh Battalion South Carolina 
Infantry, Lieutenant-Colonel Nelson (whole battalion two 
hundred and sixty effectives), which had just landed on the 
Island, arrived in time to cover the retreat. The enemy 
advanced until they came within range of the heavy guns of 
Fort Wagner, which opened rapidly with shot and shell, 
stopping the pursuit. Falling back to the shelter of the 
sand hills, the Federal troops rested for the remainder of 
the day. 

CAPTAIN LANGDON CHEVES. 

At 9 A. M. the Federal forces were in possession of the 
sand hills of Morris Island. The " Stars and Stripes " had 
replaced the " Stars and Bars " on Colonel Graham's head- 
quarters. The artillery garrison of Fort Wagner manned 
the guns, and throughout the day engaged the four moni- 
tors, which took position a mile away, abreast of the fort. 
Captain Cheves, son of the late Judge Cheves, to whose 
engineering skill and untiring zeal Fort Wagner was to be 
thenceforth famous in history, was sitting in his quarters 
overwhelmed with grief at the tidings just brought to him 
of the death of his nephew. Captain Chas. T. Haskell. But 
as the sound of approaching battle grew louder, he roused 
himself to action, and stepping across the threshold of his 
door, towards one of the magazines, he was stricken to death 
by a fragment of the first shell hurled at Fort Wagner. His 
work lived after him fifty-eight days. An untold weight of 
shot and shell could not destroy it. The heaviest artillery 
of that day, which reduced the walls of Sumter to a shape- 
less mass, four thousand five hundred yards away, at less 



Confederate Defe7ice of Morris Island. 15 

than one-third the distance, made but little impression on 
that monument of his genius and labor. It was not until 
the long and laborious sap and mine of the highest engi- 
neering skill, commenced one thousand six hundred yards 
away, had reached the very moat, that the fort, unimpaired 
in strength, and having accomplished the work designed, 
was evacuated without loss to its garrison. The names of 
Fort Wagner and Cheves should forever be one and in 
separable. 

FIRST ASSAULT. 

During the morning and evening of the loth Morris 
Island was reinforced by Nelson's Battalion, Seventh South 
Carolina Volunteers, two hundred and sixty men, and Col 
onel Olmsted's command of Georgia troops, detachments of 
First, Twelfth, Eighteenth and Sixty-third Georgia Regi 
ments, five hundred and thirty-four men ; these, with twenty 
men of Company D, First South Carolina Infantry, Lieut. 
Horlbeck; seventy men of Companies E, H and I, First 
South Carolina Artillery, Capt. John C. Mitchell ; two hun- 
dred remnant of Twenty-first South Carolina Volunteers, 
the Gist Guard and Matthews Artillery, under Captain Chi- 
chester, in all one thousand two hundred men, constituted 
the Confederate force. The garrison of Wagner was ordered 
to be on the alert against an impending attack. The night 
was passed in comparative quiet, the men resting at their 
post, and the artillerists sleeping in the gun-chambers. 
Four hours past midnight the pickets on the ridge caught 
the sound of stealthy footsteps advancing over the soft 
sand. The early gloaming of dawn hardly revealed the form 
of the foe. Waiting only to make "assurance doubly sure," 
they opened a rapid fire, and thus gave signal to the vigi- 
lant garrison of Wagner. In a moment the South Carolin- 
ians manned the guns and the right and right centre of the 
ramparts. The Georgians guarded the left and left centre 
of the works ; the Eighteenth Battalion occupied the South- 
east bastion ; the First Georgia along the sea front to the 



1 6 Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 

left ; the Twelfth Georgia Battalion to the right, Colonel R. 
F. Graham in command. 

Four companies of the Seventh Connecticut, under Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Rodman, led the assault. So rapidly did 
they follow on the heels of the retreating picket force, they 
were at the crest of the sea face as the pickets were enter- 
ing the sally port. Against the dark sky the dim outline of 
a human figure could just be discerned. Lieutenant R. C. 
Gilchrist, of the Gist Guard, in command of the company, 
challenged him to know if he was friend or foe. Quick as 
thought the man's gun was levelled, and a ball parted the 
Lieutenant's hair, the powder blinding his e3'es. His 
32-pounder, double-shotted with grape and cannister, belched 
forth a reply, the whole load passing through the man's 
body, cutting him in twain, his discharged rifle dropping in 
the battery. This became the signal for the blast of war. 
Instantly the whole battery was ablaze. The artillery 
opened with a murderous hail of grape and cannister, while 
the musketry poured forth in a steady roll, their balls sent 
like wind and rain in the face of the foe. As the light 
of day increased, and the smoke cleared away, the retreat- 
ing columns of blue coats were seen making for the sand 
hills. The remnant of the forlorn hope of the Seventh Con- 
necticut, who had sheltered themselves against the scarp 
during the terrific fire, now crawled \c\ and surrendered 
themselves prisoners, one hundred and thirty, rank and file. 
General Strong, who commanded in person on the loth and 
nth, reports his losses in the two days four hundred and 
thirty-six, but three hundred and fifty wounded were carried 
to Hilton Head, and over one hundred were buried by the 
Confederates in front of Wagner, one hundred and thirty 
taken prisoners. The loss in Wagner was one officer, Capt. 
C. Werner, of the German Volunteers, of Savannah, and 
five men killed, and one officer and fifteen men wounded — 
twelve in all. 

CHANGE IN GARRISON. 
After their signal repulse on the morning of the iith,the 



Confederate Defence of Morris Tslaiid. \y 

Federals were busy strengthening their position on the 
Island. On the 12th General Beauregard called a Council 
of general officers to discuss the practicability of driving 
the Federals from Morris Island. It was considered that 
wot less than four thousand men would be required to do it. 
More than that number could not be manoeuvered. The 
enemy's works must be carried before daylight, otherwise 
the advance and attack would be exposed to the fire of the 
fleet. The limited means of transportation at hand did not 
permit as large a force to be put on the Island in one night 
and give time to allow an advance to the South end before 
daylight. Unwillingly the idea was abandoned. That op- 
portunity was lost. Never after was there the slightest 
chance that victory would have crowned the effort. Each 
day one or more monitors took position abreast of Wagner, 
shelling that fort and Gregg more or less vigorously. 

The Confederate force, which had done such arduous duty, 
were relieved by the Fifty-first North Carolina troops (six 
hundred and eighty-seven men), under Col. H. McKethan ; 
detachments from Captains Bucknerand Dixon's Companies 
of Sixty-third Georgia Artillery ; Captains Tatem and 
Adams' Companies of the First South Carolina Infantry as 
Artillery ; section of howitzers of DeSaussure Artillery, 
Captain DePass ; section of howitzers, Blake's Artillery, 
Lieutenant VVaties ; Charleston Battalion, Lieutenant-Colo- 
nel P. C. Gaillard, and Thirty-first North Carolina troops, 
Lieutenant-Colonel Knight. Brigadier-General William 
Taliaferro relieved Colonel Graham in the command of the 
Island. 

BOMBARDMENT. 

For several days there had been evidences of a renewed 
attack by land and sea on Fort Wagner. All the Federal 
fleet disappeared from Stono on the 17th. The New Iron- 
sides and several gunboats crossed the bar, and the forces 
were increased on the Island. In five days four powerful 
batteries had been erected, the nearest within one thousand 
three hundred and thirty yards of Wagner; the furthest 
.3 



1 8 Confederate Defence^ of Morris Island. 

one thousand nine hundred and thirty yards. The first 
mounted five lo-inch siege mortars, the second nine 
3d-pounder and four 2o-pounder Parrott rifles, the third four 
lo-inch siege mortars, and the fourth five 8-inch siege mor- 
tars and two 30-pounder, six lo-pounder Parrott rifles, four 
3-inch rifles and two Wiard rifles — in all thirty-six pieces. 

About daylight on the 18th the Federal mortars com- 
menced their practice, which they kept up at intervals until 
noon. The New Ironsides, the monitors Montauk, Cat- 
skill, Nantucket, Weehawken and Patapsco, the gunboats 
Paul Jones, Ottowa, Seneca, Chippewa and Wissahickon 
steamed in and took position abreast of Wagner. At 12 
o'tlock all the land and naval batteries opened a ''feu 
d' enfer'' upon the devoted work. For eight long hours it 
was as a continuous reverberation of thunder, peal followed 
peal in rapid succession. NiNE THOUSAND SHELL WERE 
HURLED AGAINST Wagner (twenty each minute). It ceased 
only when darkness came on, as its further continuance 
would have involved the slaughter of the assaulting column, 
but strange to tell, few within the fort were injured — eight 
killed and twenty wounded. The two North Carolina Reg- 
iments during the bombardment were kept under the shelter 
of the bomb-proof. The greater portion of the Charleston 
Battalion was stationed along the parapet of the work, under 
Colonel Gaillard, a position they gallantly maintained the 
whole day exposed to the fearful fire, while the remaining 
companies, under Captain Julius A. Blake, took shelter be- 
hind the sand hills in the rear, yet within call. The light 
field pieces were dismounted from their carriages and buried 
in the sand for protection. 

At the commencement of the bombardment Wagner had 
delivered a sharp and severe fire against the fleet, but in a 
short time its land batteries were entirely silent, and those 
of the sea front were practically so. 

PREPARATION FOR ASSAULT. 

As it became evident that an attack on Fort Wagner 
would be made at dark. Battery Gregg and Fort Sumter 



Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 19 

made ready to fire over Wagner on the advancing columns, 
and the batteries on James Island to enfilade its face. 
General Hagood was ordered to be in readiness to support, 
or relieve, General Taliaferro, and the Thirty-second Geor- 
gia Regiment, Colonel Harrison, proceeded to the reinforce- 
ment of the garrison. On the part of the Federals, Briga- 
dier-General Strong's Brigade was to lead the assault. It 
was composed of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts, Colonel 
Shaw; the Sixth Connecticut Regiment, Colonel J. L. Chat- 
field ; a Battalion of the Seventh Connecticut Regiment, 
Colonel Barton ; the Third New Hampshire, the Forty- 
eighth New York Regiment, Colonel Jackson ; the Ninth 
Maine Regiment, Colonel Emery, and the Seventy-sixth 
Pennsylvania Regiment, Colonel Strawbridge, and was to 
be supported by Colonel Putnam's Brigade, comprising his 
own regiment (the Seventh New Hampshire), Lieutenant- 
Colonel Abbott; the One Hundredth New York Regiment, 
Colonel Dandy ; the Sixty-second Ohio Regiment, Colonel 
Pond, and the Sixty-seventh Ohio Regiment, Colonel Voris. 
Brigadier-General T. Seymour to command the assaulting 
column, and to arrange details for attack. 

Sometime before sunset these regiments were formed on 
the beach in rear of their batteries, in columns of eight 
companies, closed at half distance. The Sixth Connecticut 
to lead and attack the Southeast salient angle of the fort. 
The Forty-eighth New York to pass along the sea front and 
facing inward, to attack there ; the other regiments of the 
brigade to charge the South front, extending inward to- 
wards the marshes, on the left ; the Fifty-fourth Massachu- 
setts Volunteers (colored), one thousand strong, in advance 
of all, and to be the '' enfans perdiis!' They formed in two 
lines ahead of the brigade. Their comimander was Colonel 
Rob't G. Shaw. He was under the medium height, of a 
neat figure, wore a short jacket, and had long light hair, 
which fell low on his neck, nearly to his shoulders, giving 
him a very boyish appearance. Of the success of the assault 
there was no doubt. They thought that the guns of Wag- 
ner had all been silenced ; that there were not five hundred 



20 Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 

men in the fort, and these had been well hammered all day. 
" We'll sleep in Wagner to-night," they said, and many a 
poor fellow did, " the sleep that knows no waking." 

SECOND ASSAULT, JULY i8th. 

By preconcerted arrangement, as night closed in, about a 
quarter past 8 o'clock, all the Federal guns, land and sea, 
ceased in a moment, and a great calm followed, a prelude 
to a greater storm to burst anon in all its fury. As the 
curtain of smoke, which like a pall had enveloped Wagner 
all day, slowly lifted, the blue coats of the enemy were seen 
debouching from their first parallel, and advancing over the 
narrow approach between it and the fort. Quickly the gar- 
rison of Wagner sallied forth from the bomb-proof and sand 
hills in the rear, to take their allotted positions on the ram- 
parts, to do all that skill could dictate and manhood accom- 
plish in defence of the place. The light field pieces were 
dug out of the sand, remounted and placed in position, the 
artillerists loaded their guns, double-shotted with grape and 
canister, and stood lanyards in hand. Three companies of 
the Charleston Battalion, under the intrepid Lieutenant- 
Colonel P. C. Gaillard, manned the right of the battery ; 
next on their left stood the gallant Fifty-first North Caro- 
lina Volunteers, six hundred and eighty-seven strong, under 
Colonel H. McKethan. The regiment that was to have 
occupied the Southeast salient cowardly failed to respond, 
and remained in the bomb-proof,* and thus was that por- 
tion of the battery undefended. The remaining two com- 
panies of the Charleston Battalion occupied the extreme 
left of the fort by the beach. 

When the advancing column was five hundred yards dis- 
tant the blizzard burst; shot, shell, grape, shrapnel, canis- 
ter and musket balls poured like hail and rain upon the 
narrow approach, while Sumter, Gregg and the James Island 

*This regiment wiped out the stigma incurred in a moment of weakness, 
caused by the demoralizing effect of a new and strange experience, by their 
distinguished bravery the next year in the operations around Petersburg. 



Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 2 1 

batteries concentrated their shells rapidly and fatally on the 
same spot. For the morning bombardment the Federals 
were paid in their own coin. 

Colonel Robert G. Shaw, with his colored troops, led the 
attack: "They went forward at a 'double quick '. with 
great energy and resolution ; but on approaching the ditch 
they broke ; the greater part of them followed their in- 
trepid Colonel, bounded over the ditch, mounted the para- 
pet, and planted their flag in the most gallant manner upon 
the ramparts, where Shaw was shot dead ; while the rest 
were siezed with a furious panic, and acted like wild beasts 
let loose from a menagerie. They came down first on the 
Ninth Maine, and then on the Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania, 
and broke both of them in two. Portions of the Ninth and 
Seventy-sixth mingled with the fugitives of the Fifty-fourth, 
and could not be brought to the fort. They ran away like 
deer, some crawling on their hands and knees."* 

The Sixth Connecticut, Colonel John L. Chatfield, suc- 
ceeded in passing through this deadly fire, and made a furi- 
ous charge on the Southeast undefended salient, and took 
it. Here for three hours they were penned in, no support 
having dared to follow across the fatal stretch before the 
fort. To retreat was worse than the advance. While .the 
action was in progress Captain W. H. Ryan, with his com- 
pany (Irish Volunteers, of Charleston Battalion), had en- 
deavored to dislodge these men, and had met his death. 
Major David Ramsay was then ordered to take a detail from 
his command to recapture the salient. As he was advanc- 
ing a shot from the bomb-proof struck him in the back, and 
he too fell. By this time the enemy was in full retreat, shat- 
tered and demoralized, and the conflict was virtually ended. 
A fire of grape and musketry swept the faces of the salient, 
to prevent the retreat of the Sixth Connecticut, who had 
found lodgment there, until the Thirty-first Georgia Regi- 
ment (who had reached the Island during the assault with 
Brigadier-General Hagood) charged over the Southern scarp, 
and two companies of the Charleston Battalion, under 

*See " Life Afloat and Ashore," Judge Cowley, page 93. 



22 Confederate Defcnec of Morris Island. 

Captain Julius A. Blake, of the Charleston Riflemen, de- 
ployed along the Western face, when the Sixth Connecticut 
surrendered. The assault was bravely made, but was 
doomed to failure from the onset. The demoralization of 
the negro troops at the supreme moment threw the ranks of 
the Federals into disorder. The converging fire of artillery 
and infantry on the narrow approach prevented a rally. 
Few could move within that fatal area and live. The situa- 
tion of the work forbid any feint or diversion, so that the 
garrison could concentrate their attention on one point 
alone. Besides, the increasing darkness, rendered more 
dense by the smoke of conflict, added to the confusion of 
the assailants and helped the assailed, and thus the fortunes 
of war once more smiled on Fort Wagner, giving to the 
Confederates a complete victory and to the Federals an 
overwhelming defeat. 

MAJOR DAVID RAMSAY. 

One of the " bright, peculiar stars " of South Carolina was 
this scholar, statesman, soldier, gentleman. Unsurpassed in 
intellect, improved by ripe and faithful study in the Uni- 
versities of Europe and America, he was fulfilling the 
promise of his early youth. Grandson of the great Henry 
Laurens, and also of South Carolina's historian, he had in- 
herited the endowments of both grandsires, and to him the 
future was big with hope and promise. While gallantly 
leading his command he fell, not by the hand of the foe. 
For seventeen days he lingered, enduring his sufferings with 
Christian fortitude, and expired at last in his ancestral 
home. At heart a lover of the Union he fought to destroy, 
but a martyr to the State to which he deemed his allegiance 
was due. 

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL JOHN C. SIMKINS. 

No officer stood higher in personal worth, or was more 
beloved by his comrades and men than Lieutenant-Colonel 
Simkins, of the First South Carolina Infantry, and none 



Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 



-j 



have left behind them a brighter or purer memory. He fell 
in the front, cheering his brave artillerists, a noble type, 
living and dying, of a perfect gentleman and a brave soldier. 

CAPTAIN WILLIAM II. RYAN. 

Of all citizens, native or adopted, who have illustrated 
Irish zeal, devotion and courage in defence of South Caro- 
lina, no better or worthier name can be found than that of 
Captain Ryan, of the " Irish Volunteers." These names, 
Ramsay, Simkins, Tatum and Ryan, the martyrs of the i8th 
June, are inseparably connected with the defence of this 
renowned fort. 

AFTER THE BATTLE. 

Language has not the power to describe the horrors of 
the night succeeding that assault. The shattered columns 
of the Federals were driven back to the shelter of the sand 
hills. Four thousand men had been dashed against Fort 
Wagner; when re-formed within the Federal lines only six 
hundred answered to their names. Brigadier-General 
Strong was mortally wounded, and Colonels Chatfield, Put- 
nam and Shaw were left dead within the lines of the enemy. 
A desultory fire of small arms, with an occasional discharge 
of grape and canister, was kept up for a time at an unseen 
foe from the ramparts of Wagner, But soon silence and 
stillness reigned supreme, broken only now and then by the 
moans of the wounded and dying. At last the long night 
was ended, and the sun of a peaceful Sabbath rose, reveal- 
ing the details of the sickening scene. " Blood, mud, water, 
brains and human hair, matted together ; men lying in every 
possible attitude, with every conceivable expression on their 
countenances ; their limbs bent into unnatural shapes by the 
fall of twenty or more feet ; the fingers rigid and out- 
stretched, as if they had clutched at the earth to save them- 
selves ; pale, beseeching faces, looking out from among the 
ghastly corpses, with moans and cries for help and water, and 
dying gasps and death struggles." In the salient and on the 



24 Confederate Defcncd of Morris Island. 

ramparts they lay heaped and pent, in some places three 
deep. Among them Colonel Putnam, with the back part of 
his head blown off; still the remarkable beauty of his face 
and form evoked from his victorious foes a sigh of pity ; 
while on the crest, with but few of his " sable troop " beside 
the flag he had vainly planted, was the youthful corpse of 
Colonel Shaw. 

All of Sunday was employed in removing the wounded 
and burying the dead. The former were immediately taken 
to the city, and were carefully tended by Confederate Sur- 
geons.* Wounds being inflicted at such short distance, little 
could be done save to amputate, and Federal blood flowed 
by the bucket full. Eight hundred mangled bodies, many 
of them shattered beyond recognition, so that 'twas hard to 
tell the black from the white, were buried by the Confede- 
rates before their fort, near the beach, to be unearthed 
again by the advancing sap and Federal shells. The 
wounded and dead more remote from Wagner were cared 
for by their friends. 

EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS. 

The next eventful day for Fort Wagner was the 25th of 
July. General Taliaferro had been relieved on the 19th 
by General Hagood, and was now again in command of the 
fort. The intervening tiine had been diligently employed 
by its defenders in repairing breaches, replacing guns, and 
otherwise strengthening the works. The Federals swarmed 
like bees nine hundred yards away on their second parallel, 
against which the enfilading batteries of James Island, and 
the guns of Wagner and Sumter, directed a continuous fire. 

*Major Lewis Butler, of the Sixty-seventh Ohio, who was by the side of 
Colonel Putnam when the latter was killed, says : " It is but just that I notice 
a Special Order of General Beauregard, under date of July 27, 1S63 (if I am 
correct as to date), directing that special care be taken of the wounded cap- 
tured at Wagner, as men who were brave enough to go in there deserved the 
respect of their enemy. Another act of courtesy : the effects, money and 
papers belonging to members of the Sixty-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 
who died in Charleston Hospital, were sent through the lines by flag of 
truce." 



Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 25 

Daily the monitors and New Ironsides threw into Wagner 
their 11 and 15-inch shells, and each night portions of its 
worn out garrison were relieved by fresh troops from 
Charleston. 

Negotiations, through flags of truce, commencing just 
after the last assault, culminated in arrangements for an 
exchange of prisoners, the excess at this time being in the 
hands of the Confederates, and the 27th of July was ap- 
pointed as the day. As the fleet had fired upon Wagner 
pending a flag of truce a few days before, for which an 
apology was demanded and given, Brigadier-General Ripley, 
commanding the district, ordered all his batteries not to fire 
on that day until after the exchange had been made. Not 
so the Federals. Early in the morning their whole iron- 
clad fleet took position abreast of this devoted fort ; and 
their earth-works, five hundred yards nearer than before, and 
mounted with still heavier guns, opened a concentrated and 
destructive fire, which, while it lasted, was equal in inten- 
sity to the bombardment of the i8th. Practice had made 
their aim more perfect, so that their shot sought out the 
weakest spots in the fort. The immense 15-inch shells of 
the monitors would roll slowly up the scarp and burst upon 
the crest of the work, some falling inside the gun chambers. 
The garrison sought shelter in the bomb-proof, or lay low 
behind the traverses and epaulments. All their guns were 
silent. The Island trembled as if from an earthquake. 

At 10 o'clock the steamer conveying the Federal prison- 
ers, with a large white flag at her fore, was seen passing 
Sumter. As she approached the fleet the bombardment 
ceased, and for four hours the negotiations were carried on 
by the two belligerent powers. 

This time was diligently employed by General Taliaferro 
in the examination of the fort, which it was feared had been 
seriously damaged. The magazines and bomb-proofs were 
filled with smoke from exploding shells, leading to the be- 
lief that the former had been breached. So the garrison 
was set to work removing the powder from the Southeast 
magazine to one less exposed. No work or repairs could 
4 



26 Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 

be put upon the outside of the battery at this time, as to do 
so would have betrayed to their vigilant foe the success of 
their bombardment. All that could be done was to be on 
the alert for another assault, which was expected. 

PREPARATIONS FOR EVACUATION. 

While the exchange of prisoners was going on, a 
Council was called by General Taliaferro to discuss the 
situation. It was decided that the place was no longer ten- 
able, and must be given up. Dispatches were accordingly 
signaled to General Ripley, asking that transportation be 
furnished that night to remove the troops from the Island, 
and preparation was made by General Taliaferro to evacu- 
ate. But there was at least one officer in Fprt Wagner who 
did not share this feeling of insecurity. From the first 
spadeful of sand thrown up he had seen the fort grow to 
completion, and had assisted in and superintended the 
work. He knew by personal inspection the depth of sand 
remaining on the outside of the bomb-proofs and magazines 
after the bombardment, and believed that, though their 
form had changed, they were still practically intact. Ask- 
ing and receiving permission to go to the city (with a reflec- 
tion on the nature of the request at such a time), he manned 
the gig of the Gist Guard Artillery, and proceeded at once 
to the city and to General Ripley's headquarters. There he 
found the General chafing over the situation, and after a 
brief interview, in which he begged the General not to evac- 
uate the Island, he was assigned to duty as Chief of 
Artillery, and directed to return to Fort Wagner with 
orders that it be held. The situation was also sub- 
mitted to General Beauregard, and " instructions were sent 
to General Taliaferro not to abandon the works without ex- 
press orders to that effect."* So that incidentally through 
the personal efforts of Captain C. E. Chichester, Wagner, 
and indeed the city itself, was saved at that date from fall- 
ing into the hands of the enemy ; for the fall of Wagner then 

*See General Ripley's report, p. 33, and General Beauregard, Vol. 2, p. 494. 



Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 27 

would have gravely impaired the safety of Charleston, 
as the defences in the inner harbor were incomplete and 
defective. 

END OF FIRST PERIOD. 

Brigadier-General Johnson Hagood succeeded Brigadier- 
General Taliaferro in command of Morris Island on the night 
of 26th July, and thus ended the first sixteen days of the 
siege of Fort Wagner. Up to that time the following com- 
mands had performed duty on the Island, relieving each 
other at stated intervals, to wit : Artillery — Gist Guard, 
Lieutenant R. C. Gilchrist ; Matthewes Artillery, Captain J. 
Raven Matthews; Companies I, E and H, First South 
Carolina Artillery, Captains John C. Mitchell, J. R. Mac- 
beth, and Lieutenant H. W. Frost ; Captains Tatum and 
Adams' Companies, of the First South Carolina Infantry ; 
DeSaussure Light Artillery, Captain DePass command- 
ing; Captains Buckner and Dixon's Companies, of Sixty- 
third Georgia Regular Artillery; Captains John H.Gary 
(Co. A) and Robert Pringle (Co. B), of Lucas' Battalion of 
Artillery. Infantry — Twenty-first Regiment South Carolina 
Volunteers, Colonel R. F. Graham ; Charleston Battalion, 
Lieutenant-Colonel P. C. Gaillard and Major David Ram- 
say ; Company B, Captain Chas. T. Haskell, First South 
Carolina Infantry; Twelfth and Eighteenth Georgia Bat- 
talions, under Lieutenant-Colonel H. D. Capers and 
Major W. S. Bassinger; Thirty-second Georgia Volun- 
teers, Colonel Geo. P. Harrison ; Sixty-first North Caro- 
lina Volunteers, Colonel Jas. D. Radcliffe ; Fifty-first 
Regiment North Carolina Volunteers, Colonel Hector 
McKethan ; Thirty-first North Carolina Volunteers, Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Chas. W. Knight, and Eighth North Caro- 
lina Volunteers, Colonel Henry M. Shaw. 

Out of these commands ninety-five had been killed, three 
hundred and twelve wounded and one hundred and thirty- 
two taken prisoners. Two desperate assaults had been re- 
pulsed, inflicting a loss on the Federals of not less than three 



28 Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 

thousand three hundred men. The ^uns disabled or dis- 
mounted in Fort Wagner had been renewed or replaced. 

The effects of the heavy bombardment of the combined 
artillery of land and navy against an earth-work, unprece- 
dented in the annals of war, on two occasions, aggregating 
twenty-one hours, and intermittent night and day, through 
the whole period, had been repaired by its garrison, work- 
ing all of each and every night. General W. B. Taliaferro had 
succeeded Colonel Graham, was succeeded by General John- 
son Hagood, succeeded him again, and was finally relieved 
of the command of the Island on the 26th July by General 
Hagood. From this time until the evacuation of the Island, 
Generals A. H. Colquitt and T. L. Clingman, and Colohels 
Geo. P. Harrison and L. M. Keitt, succeeded each other in 
command, serving generally about five days — General Ha- 
good and Colonel Keitt having two tours of duty. 

During this same period, notwithstanding their heavy 
losses, the Federals had accomplished substantial work. 
The loth of July had given them three-fourths of Morris 
Island. On that day they established their first line, one 
thousand six hundred yards distant from Wagner. By 
gradual approaches, working night and day under a heavy 
fire from Sumter, Wagner, Gregg and the batteries on James 
Island, they had advanced eleven hundred yards, and were 
then one thousand yards distant from Wagner. Battery 
Reynolds, one thousand three hundred and thirty yards 
from Wagner, had been converted into a strong defensive 
line, capable of resisting a formidable sortie. A row of in- 
clined palisading, reaching entirely across the Island, had 
been planted two hundred yards in advance of it, with a 
return of fifty yards on the right. A bomb-proof magazine 
was constructed, and heavy guns mounted. The first and 
second parallels were established and completed. The latter 
about six hundred yards in advance of the first, and occupy- 
ing a narrow ridge which stretched across the Island and 
extended over the marsh to Vincent's Creek, which was 
spanned by two booms of floating timber to keep off sorties 
from boats. An obstacle consisting of abattis, inclined pali- 



Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 29 

sading and wire entanglements, was placed several yards in 
advance, flanked by six light guns. On the right the parallel 
itself was extended by a defensive barricade to low water 
mark, terminating at that point in a strong cut work, on 
which was placed three Riqua batteries and two field 
howitzers to sweep the beach. Thus were the opposing 
forces mutually prepared for attack and defence. General 
Gilmore at that time had double the available force of 
General Beauregard, within striking distance, and it would 
have been madness to attempt to drive him from the Island, 
protected as he was on the flank by the iron-clads. 

SIEGE COMMENCES. 

The unsuccessful assaults and bombardments of Wagner 
had impressed the Federal commander with a respect for 
its strength, and induced a change in his plan of operation. 
He abandoned all hope of taking it by " coup de viain,'' and 
resolved to resort to the safer, but slower, method of siege 
by regular approach and bombardment. The large force at 
his disposal, aided by the fleet, which could protect his 
flank within the distance of a mile, rendered this practica- 
ble. His only difficulty, the shifting nature of the material 
he had to dig in, and the narrow ground on which to ap- 
proach. But here, also, while his right flank was protected 
by the iron-clads, his left was equally so by an impassable 
marsh, and was only exposed to the fire of the batteries on 
James Island, two and a quarter miles distant. 

At first Sumter seriously interfered with his work, deliv- 
ering from its barbette guns, over Wagner, an accurate and 
destructive fire. But it was early eliminated from the 
conflict, those guns having been dismounted by the i8th of 
August by the breaching guns on Morris Island. 

LIFE IN FORT WAGNER. 

From the 20th of July was a period of simple endurance 
on Morris Island. Night and day, with scarcely any inter- 
mission, the hurling shell burst over and within it. Each 



30 Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 

day, often from early dawn, the New Ironsides or the six 
monitors, some times all together, steamed up and delivered 
their terrific broadsides, shaking the fort to its centre. The 
noiseless coehorn shells, falling vertically, searched out the 
secret recesses, almost invariably claiming victims. The 
burning sun of a Southern summer, its heat intensified by 
the reflection of the white sand, scorched and blistered 
the unprotected garrison, or the more welcome rain and 
storm wet them to the skin. An intolerable stench from 
the unearthed dead of the previous conflict, the carcasses of 
cavalry horses lying where they fell in the rear, and barrels 
of putrid meat thrown out on the beach, sickened the de- 
fenders. A large and brilliantly colored fly, attracted by 
the feast, and unseen before, inflicted wounds more painful, 
though less dangerous, than the shot of the enemy. Water 
was scarcer than whiskey. The food, however good when 
it started for its destination, by exposure, first on the 
wharf in Charleston, then on the beach at Cummings Point, 
being often forty-eight hours in transitu, was unfit to eat. 
The unventilated bomb-proofs, filled with smoke of lamps 
and smell of blood, were intolerable, so that one endured 
the risk of shot and shell rather than seek its shelter. 

The incessant din of its own artillery, as well as the 
bursting shells of the foe, prevented sleep. Then, as never 
before, all realized the force of the prophecy: "In the 
morning thou shalt say, would God it were even ! and at 
even thou shalt say, would God it were morning ! for the 
fear of thine eyes, wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the 
sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see." 

The casualties were not numerous, and yet each day 
added to the list of killed and wounded. Amputated 
limbs were brought out from the hospital and buried in 
the sand. Often bodies followed them. Only as a special 
favor, or where high rank claimed the privilege, were the 
dead carried to the city for interment. There were few 
in the battery who could not tell of some narrow escape, 
where a movement of position only had saved life. Nor can 
we specify the instances of personal heroism, where all were 



Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 31 

brave ; so often was the flag rescued and remounted, that 
orders were issued by the Commanding General forbidding 
it ; flags were many, but men were few. Thus the days 
lengthened into weeks, the weeks into months, while its 
brave and patient defenders individually stood face to face 
with death, and endured in many instances what was worse. 

Nor was the garrison inactive. For the blows received, 
blows were given. Several monitors retired worsted from 
the encounter, and were not seen again. Explosions in the 
advancing works of the enemy showed the accuracy of the 
Confederate fire ; while every night through the weary 
hours lengthening into new days their working parties 
swarmed over the fort to repair the damage done to bomb- 
proof, parapet and traverses. Fighting from early morn to 
set of sun, and working through the livelong night, com- 
prised their sum of life and daily experience. 

It was not possible for human endurance to stand this 
mental and physical strain long. As each command became 
exhausted it was relieved, and fresh troops took their place. 
Six days was the longest period of any command; the in- 
fantry served only three days at a time. And no greater proof 
can be had of their courage and devotion than that, with 
personal knowledge of the perilous nature of the service, 
the same commands returned time and again, with full 
ranks and even greater " esprit de corps," as the fierce 
struggle grew more intense. 

As early as the 30th July the Federals secured the range . 
of Cummings Point, on which they kept up a fire each 
night, and thus interrupted communication. Only occasion- 
ally after this could a steamer reach that landing, and then 
at great risk. One, the steamer " Sumter," was sunk by the 
batteries on Sullivan's Island, being mistaken for the enemy. 
So that by friend and foe alike, in the darkness of the night, 
was the relief of Morris Island endangered. Small boats 
alone, generally furnished by the Confederate Navy, sup- 
plied or changed the garrison in the last days of the siege, 
and these were harrassed, and sometimes captured, by the 
Federal barges that picketed nightly in the adjacent waters. 



32 Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 

FEDERAL APPROACH. 

By the 26th July the defensive arrangements of the second 
parallel were completed. They comprised, beside the for- 
midable obstacles in front of it already described, two hun- 
dred and ninety yards of parapet for infantry and twenty- 
one pieces of light artillery, three 30-pounder Parrott rifles 
and one Wiard field gun — as strong against open assault as 
Wagner itself. Afterwards, by the 15th August, two 8-inch 
Parrott rifles and six lOO-pounder Parrott rifles were located 
in this parallel against Fort Sumter, three thousand five 
hundred and twenty-five yards distant. At the same time 
the navy established in the first parallel two 200-pounder 
Parrott rifles and two 80-pounder VVhitworth rifles, as a 
breaching battery. This was called " Naval Battery." 

At " Battery Reynolds," on a line with Naval Battery, 
were mounted one 300-pounder Parrott rifle, two 200-pounder 
Parrott rifles and four lOO-pounder Parrott rifles. All these 
pieces took part in the bombardment of Sumter from 17th 
to 23d August. 

On August 9th the third parallel was established, with 
the flying sap about five hundred yards distant from Wag- 
ner, but their progress was greatly impeded, and on the loth 
was stopped entirely by the Confederate batteries and the 
sharp-shooters, so that it became doubtful if the trenches 
could be pushed forward much further. Operations against 
Wagner were suspended until the i8th of August, and the 
attention of the P'ederals was directed chiefly against Sum- 
ter. The iron-clad fleet, however, from day to day continued 
to bombard both Wagner and Gregg. 

From the i6th to the 24th of August, the fourteen loO, 
200 and 300-pounder Parrott rifle breaching guns of the 
Federal batteries were directed almost exclusively on Fort 
Sumter, firing five thousand and nine projectiles weighing 
five hundred and fifty-two thousand six hundred and eighty- 
three pounds, though seriously interfered with, and at times 
partially suspended, by the galling fire from Fort Wagner. 
The combined fire of their mortars and light pieces, aided by 



Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 33 

the gun boats and iron-clads, failed to subdue this annoyance, 
so the Federals turned some of their heavy breaching guns 
on that work. At one time there was a prospect that their 
most efficient batteries would be disabled before they had 
accomplished their work of demolition of Sumter. 

On the night of August i8th active operations were re- 
sumed against Wagner, by debouching with the full sap 
from the left of the third parallel. The high tides and 
storm, usual at this season, had submerged the trenches to 
a depth of two feet in many places and washed down the 
parapets. At the second parallel the " Surf Battery " had 
barely escaped destruction, about one-third of it having 
been carried away to the sea. Its armament had been tem- 
porarily removed as a precaution against the storm. The 
progress of the sap being hotly opposed by the fire of both 
artillery and sharp-shooters in Wagner, and by the latter, 
in particular, under the cover of the ridge, two hundred 
yards in front of the battery. 

On the 2ist August the fourth parallel was opened three 
hundred yards distant from Fort Wagner, partly with the 
flying and partly with the full sap. Here the Island is one 
hundred and sixty yards wide at high water. 

ARTILLERY PRACTICE. 

The constant service of the guns on both sides made the 
artillerists almost perfect in their aim. The Federals, having 
better guns and ammunition, were the most accurate. 
From a land battery an 8-inch rifle shot was fired at a siege 
howitzer on the land face of Wagner. It struck the muzzle. 
The Captain of the squad said it was a chance shot, and 
told his men to run her "in battery " again. The next shot 
came swiftly, and entering the bore broke the piece off at 
the trunnions. The 11 and 15-inch shells from the Iron- 
sides and monitors fired at a low elevation would richochet, 
or rather roll, on the water, and striking the edge of the 
beach bound over the parapet, to burst in a gun chamber 
or passage-way. One such shell claimed as its victim the 
5 



34 Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 

engineer in charge, Captain Wampler, who had arrived at 
Wagner only a short time before. He had just taken the 
chair vacated by Surgeon Henry B. Horlbeck, and seating 
himself to write, had commenced " My dear wife and 
child," when the deafening report of the shell was 
heard and he was seen to slide from his chair cut in 
twain. He died without a moan. The excellence of their 
fuses made their mortar practice superb. Seldom did they 
fail to burst either just over or within the fort. 

If the fire of the Confederate batteries was less effective, 
it must be remembered that the largest gun was a lO-inch 
Columbiad, never in prime condition and things always 
awry. The gunners, also, instead of being within a turret 
of iron or beyond range of adverse fire, were terribly ex- 
posed ; yet, of the accuracy of their aim let Admiral Dahl- 
gren speak. He says: "On August 17 the Ironsides lay at 
nine hundred yards, and was struck thirty-one times, mostly 
from Wagner and Gregg." " During the operations against 
Morris Island the nine iron-clads fired eight thousand and 
twenty-six projectiles, weighing six hundred and fifty-three 
and a half tons, and were hit eight hundred and eighty-two 
times, chiefly by lo-inch shot." " The duties of the iron- 
clads were not performed under idle batteries; the guns of 
Wagner never failed to open on them, and fired until their 
men were driven by those of our iron-clads to take shelter 
in the bomb-proofs. One of their cannon, a lo-inch, left 
deep dents on every turret that will not easily be efifaced." 
Had that gun been a 300-pounder rifled Parrott, or one of 
the 934^ -inch 700-pounder rifled Blakely afterwards mounted 
in Charleston, its record would have been fatal to every 
iron-cl'ad. 

SHARP-SHOOTERS. 

More fatal even than the heaviest artillery were the little 
minnie balls of the sharp-shooters. " From early morn to 
dewy eve," these crack shots would sit in their eyries, ex- 
temporized out of sand bags, patiently watching for a mark 



Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 35 

to fire at. To expose a hat, an arm or a hand even on either 
side was sure to draw a minnie ball with certain aim from 
over one thousand yards away. A cap elevated on a ram- 
rod above the parapet would draw the fire of the foe, and 
when the incautious "blue jacket" peered out of his rifle 
pit to sec the effect of his shot he was " plugged." An 
officer in Wagner making his rounds looked for a moment 
through one of these loop-holes at the advancing sap, a puff 
of smoke from a rifle pit warned him of his danger and he 
withdrew his head just in time to escape the ball that 
passed through the opening. Another less fortunate was 
pierced through his brain. This accuracy of aim was due 
to the Whitworth rifle, with telescopic attachment, ob- 
tained for Wagner through the efforts of Capt. S. A. Ashe, 
of the Ordnance Department, who did good service on Mor- 
ris Island during the greater part of the siege. These guns 
were fatal at fifteen hundred yards. The heavy charge at 
which they were fired caused a recoil that bruised the face 
of the sharp-shooter, so that the black ring around the eye 
was recognized as his distinctive badge. 

CAVALRY. • 

Strange as it may seem, the cavalry rendered efficient 
service on Morris Island. A detail of a Lieutenant and ten 
men, with their horses, from Capt. Zimmerman Davis' com- 
pany, " The South Carolina Rangers," were sent down on 
the nth July, and thereafter until the evacuation reliefs 
were furnished by the same command ; the same horses 
being used by each. The duty these men performed was 
dangerous in the extreme. They were the couriers between 
Fort Wagner and Battery Gregg, and as one started 
at full speed from one to the other he became at once a 
target for the shells from the monitors and balls from the 
sharp-shooters, and it was always a race for life. Many 
narrow escapes were made. Privates Flinn C. Davis and 
W. W. Pemberton had their horses killed under them. 
Frequently an important dispatch would be sent by two 



36 Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 

couriers at a time, so as to ensure its delivery should one 
be killed. In the assault of the 18th July, Lieut. Geo. Tup- 
per with his squad and the relief under Lieut. J. P. DeVeaux, 
Jr., (making twenty men) were present, and while not acting 
as couriers, rendered valuable aid in repelling the assault, 
engaging in a hand-to-hand conflict with the enemy. 

THE SIGNAL CORPS. 

Though non-combatants, none ran greater risks than the 
signal corps. Perched on the highest and most conspicuous 
spot of Battery Gregg, flag in hand — the cynosure of all 
eyes, both friend and foe, exposed to the fire of sharp-shooter 
and artillery, often their special aim, in the thick as well as 
the surcease of conflict — the wig-wag of their flags con- 
veyed to the commandant in Charleston the needs of the 
garrison, or received from him orders for defence. By their 
intelligent service, likewise, the dispatches passing from 
fleet to shore were read ; so that, forewarned by them on 
several occasions, the Confederates were forearmed and 
ready, so as to repel with little loss assaults that would 
otherwise have been fatal. 

SURGEONS AND CHAPLAINS. 

Without the excitement of conflict to lessen the sense of 
danger, in the midst of scenes that "tried men's souls." 
and exposed to risks as imminent and great as the actual 
combatants endured, the Surgeon and the Chaplain in Wag- 
ner had to perform the demands of their calling, sustained 
only by a sense of duty. In the intolerable heat and stench 
of the bomb-proof, suffocated with the smoke of lamp oil 
that could find no vent, in darkness relieved at noon-day by 
its fitful glare, the Surgeon staunched the life-blood and 
bound up the gaping wounds of his comrades, or sought to 
save life by the sacrifice of limbs; while the devoted 
Chaplain, with heartfelt pity and gentle smile, kneeled by 
the side of the wounded to whisper the peace and consola- 



Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 37 

tion Heaven alone could give. Notably among these heroic 
Chaplains was the Rev. Samuel E. Axson, who always ac- 
companied his comrades to the rifle pits, sharing their dan- 
ger, animating them by precept and example in the supreme 
moment of conflict, receiving from the dying the last mes- 
sage of love to absent dear ones, and, as far as human sym- 
pathy could avail, sustaining them as they passed through 
" the valley of the shadow of death." 

ASSAULT ON RIFLE PITS. 

The ridge two hundred and forty yards in front of Fort 
Wagner was the source of serious annoyance to the ap- 
proaching sap of the Federals. It was occupied by the Con- 
federate sharp-shooters, who kept up a deadly fire on their 
gunners and working party. Brigadier-General Terry was 
ordered to "carry it at the point of the bayonet and hold 
it." As preliminary to the assault the monitors shelled it 
and Wagner heavily during the day of the 21st, firing sixty 
shots to the minute, and about dark the attempt was made. 
They were received with a brisk fire and a determined front, 
and reinforcements being sent forward by General Hagood, 
the assault was driven back. Among the killed on that day 
was Captain Robert Pringle, of Lucas' Battalion of Artillery, 
who had served with distinction on Coles' Island, and was 
then acting as Chief of Artilleri% That morning, while the 
monitors were shelling Wagner /igorously, their shells fired 
at low elevation would ricochet twice upon the water, the 
last time about twenty-five yards from the shore, and then 
explode just over the parapet of the battery. One of these 
shells struck a school of mullet, and hurled one into the gun- 
chamber. Captain Pringle picked it up, and laughingly re- 
marked, "I have got my dinner." Not long after he was 
killed. 

FIRST ASSAULT ON GREGG. 

On the 24th of August an attempt was made to carry 
Cummings Point from Vincent's Creek. Lieutenant R. C. 



38 Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 

Gilchrist was then in command of Battery Gregg, with the 
Gist Guard Artillery and Company C of Lucas' Battalion of 
Artillery as its garrison. By some means the Federal sig- 
nal code had been obtained, so that messages passing be- 
tween the fleet and shore could be read.* By this means the 
Confederates were informed of the contemplated attack that 
night; further confirmed by the vigorous shelling of Battery 
Gregg all that day, during which a heavy traverse caved in, 
filling up the gun-chamber, burying the gunners of Com- 
pany C, Lucas' Battalion. A volunteer party, headed by 
Sergeant Brown, of the Marion Artillery, flew to the rescue 
of their comrades and dug them out, while exposed to a 
concentrated fire of artillery and sharp-shooters, but not be- 
fore two were dead. The guns of Battery Gregg were 
trained to sweep the creek just beyond the shore. A select 
picket force was stationed to watch for the approach of the 
barges. About midnight the phosphorescent light made by 
the splash of mufiled oars alone revealed their presence. 
The signal was given ; grape, canister and lead responded ; 
while the crash of timbers and shrieks of the wounded told 
of the ef^cacy of the aim. In five minutes the conflict was 
ended. 

CAPTURE OF RIDGE. 

The unsuccessful assault on the rifle-pits of the 2ist was 
renewed on the 25th August. As long as this post could be 
held it was not possible to surprise Wagner, so it was the 
'■'■ point d appiW for both assailed and assailant. General 
Hagood's forces were fortunately prepared to receive the 
attack, and the position was held with courage and spirit by 
the Sixty-first North Carolina and the Fifty-fourth Georgia 
Regiments, by whom the enemy was driven back a second 
time, with heavy loss, the casualties on the Confederate side 
being but five killed and nineteen wounded. 

* On board the monitor " Keokuk " a copy of the Federal signal code was 
found. Armed with this, one of the Confederate Signal Corps, dressed in a 
" blue jacket," was locked up as a fellow-prisoner with one of the Federal Sig- 
nal Corps ; from him he learned it perfectly. 



A 



Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 39 

The following day Fort Wagner was subjected to another 
of those heavy bombardments from land and sea to which 
it had become accustomed, and at dark an overwhelming 
force was thrown against the " Ridge." The engagement of 
the night before had interrupted communication with the 
city, so that reinforcements of fresh troops and ammunition 
failed to reach the Island. Overpowered at last, the ridge 
was abandoned, and the fifth and last parallel against Wag- 
ner established. 

BEGINNING OF THE END. 

The massive walls of Fort Sumter had been battered 
down until they were a shapeless ruin. Its gallant artillery 
defenders could do little more than lie passive. The heavy 
armament, which had done good service on the 7th of April, 
had been removed, and was then guslrding the inner de- 
fences of Charleston. The long and stubborn defence of 
Fort Wagner had served its purpose. The demolition of 
Sumter did not open the gate to the city. Frowning batteries 
lined the inner harbor, prepared to meet with shot and 
shell, hurled by the same brave hands, the armored fleet of 
the foe. Still, as before the destruction of Sumter, the 
enemy did not dare to essay an entrance into the harbor. 
The commander of the fleet, as if with premonition of the 
fate that would befall him, utterly failed to realize the ex- 
pectations which had been based upon the supposed effi- 
ciency of the iron-clads. The time had therefore come when 
Wagner had ceased to be useful, and there was no longer a 
call for sacrifice of life in its defence. 

The Federals were now two hundred and fifty yards from 
the sally port of Fort Wagner. The intervening space com- 
prised the narrowest and shallowest part of Morris Island, 
over which the sea in rough weather swept entirely across. 
It had been the intention of Captain Cheves to cut through 
this portion, making a canal, which would have widened 
with each recurring tide, thus dividing the Island at that 
point. Had this been done no sap could have approached 
nearer. 



40 Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 

An ingenious system of torpedo mines, to be exploded by 
the tread of persons walking over them, had been established 
by the Confederates in this narrow causeway and in front 
of the battery. These protected the enemy against sorties 
even more than they impeded his approach. 

The Federals were now so near to Wagner that they were 
comparatively free from the enfilading fire of the James 
Island batteries, and were exposed only to the converging 
fire of Wagner and its sharp-shooters. The bright moon 
impeded work by night almost as well as the sun by day, 
and the casualties of the sappers were on the increase. It 
was therefore determined to keep Wagner quiet with an 
overpowering curved fire from siege and coehorn mortars, 
and if possible to breach the bomb-proof shelter witli rifled 
guns. Accordingly, all the light mortars were moved to the 
front and placed in battery; the rifled guns were trained 
upon Wagner and prepared for prolonged action ; a large 
magazine was constructed to furnish ample supplies of am- 
munition, and the co-operation of the New Ironsides during 
the day v/as secured. 

LAST BOMBARDMENT. 

At break of day on the morning of the 5th of September 
seventeen siege and coehorn mortars, thirteen 100, 200 and 
300-pounder Parrott rifles, opened on the devoted battery, 
which still loomed up as defiantly as ever. The New Iron- 
sides took position a mile distant, and from her eight gun 
broadside poured an incessant blizzard of ii-inch shells 
against the sloping parapet, exploding either over or within 
the work. For forty-two consecutive hours this iron hail 
descended, making a scene as unsurpassingly grand as it was 
fearful. One thousand four hundred and eleven projectiles 
were thrown by the land batteries alone, aggregating 1 50,505 
pounds of metal, 22,330 pounds striking the bomb-proof, 
and during the night, when the fire of the mortars was most 
needed, as many as four shells could be seen at once en 
route for Wagner. The garrison sought the shelter of 
bomb-proof, traverse and revetment, and the guns were 



Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 41 

silent. Powerful calcium lights turned night into day, 
blinding the defenders, giving light to the sappers, and ena- 
bling the Federal artillerists to fire with the same precision 
as in the day. No one could move within the range of 
those guns and live. The casualties on that day were one 
in nine. 

During this bombardment the Federals in the advanced 
trenches prosecuted their labors without danger, pushing by 
the South face of the fort, leaving it on their left. By night 
they had advanced to the moat. 

Fort Wagner had now been held under a continued 
and furious cannonade, by land and sea, night and day, for 
fifty-seven days. The Federals had been forced to expend 
time, men and material most lavishly in approaching it ; foot 
by foot burrowing their way with pick and shovel, they were 
at last within the moat. Nearly all the guns in the fort 
were injured and useless. Transportation of men and sup- 
plies had become most difficult and dangerous. The enemy 
were over eleven thousand five hundred strong on the 
Island, supported by a powerful fleet of iron-clads and gun- 
boats, free to select their own time and method of attack. 
The calcium lights, placed on monitors at a safe distance 
abreast the fort, illuminated the works as brilliantly at night 
as the sun by da)'; while their sharp-shooters, under shelter 
of the darkness, sent death to every one who was exposed, 
so that no repairs could be put upon the fort. 

General Beauregard, who had for some time been consid- 
ering the exigencies of the case, sent his Chief Engineer, 
Colonel Harris, with the Engineer of the post, Captain F. D. 
Lee, on Sunday, the lOth September, to make a critical ex- 
amination of the fort, its capabilities of continued defence, 
and the position of the enemy's sap. On receiving his 
report, to save the brave men forming its garrison from 
the desperate chances of an assault, he gave orders for its 
evacuation. 

BOAT ATTACK ON CUMMINGS POINT. 

During the occupation of Morris Island by the Federals, 
6 



42 Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 

Battery Gregg, on Cummings Point, had played a part 
second only to Fort Wagner. Each day its garrison had 
come in for a share of the shelling, both from the fleet 
and land batteries, and full well had it discharged its 
duty in resisting the advance of the foe. On the night 
preceding the evacuation it occupied the foremost point 
of attack. On Saturday evening there were indications 
observed of an assault by boats. Colonel Keitt, now in 
command of the Island, sent strong reinforcements from 
the Twenty-eighth Georgia and Twenty-fifth South Caro- 
lina Volunteers to the support of Battery Gregg, who sta- 
tioned themselves in the sand hills between it and Wag- 
ner. While taking their position. Captain Haines, of the 
Twenty-eighth Georgia, and Lieut. R. A. Blum, command- 
ing Company B, Washington Light Infantry, Twenty-fifth 
South Carolina Volunteers, were both killed by a mortar 
shell. Two monitors were at that time shelling Gregg. At 
a quarter to 2 A. M. a rocket was thrown up, and ere many 
minutes elapsed the Federals were descried approaching 
Morris Island at a point between Wagner and Gregg, in 
fifteen or twenty barges, through the creek to the rear. Ad- 
vancing in line of battle, they were permitted to come very 
near. Captain Henry R. Lesesne, commanding Gregg, 
opened on them with a 9-inch Dahlgren, with double can- 
ister and grape. Major Gardner, of the Twenty-seventh 
Georgia Regiment, threw his infantry forward and poured 
into them a well directed and effective fire of musketry. 
Moultrie, Batteries Bee and Mitchell also opened a rapid 
and most demoralizing fire. The barges pressed bravely 
forward, firing spherical case from their howitzers. Cap- 
tain J. R. Macbeth (son of the Mayor of Charleston) replied 
with his two field howitzers. The Federals were soon com- 
pelled to withdraw, bafifled once again in their attempt to 
capture Gregg, and thus take Wagner in the rear. As all 
who were struck fell in their boats, the loss was not known. 
Some bodies and debris of boats floated to the shore. The 
survivors made the best of their way back through the 
creek and marshes. 



Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 43 

PRErARATIONS FOR EVACUATION. 

The Confederate iron-clads took position just after dark 
on the evening of the 6th, near to Fort Sumter, with their 
guns bearing on Cummings Point to the Eastward of Gregg. 
At the same time all the James Island batteries were pre- 
pared to sweep the water faces of Gregg. Transport steam- 
ers took position within the harbor, near to Cummings 
Point, to receive the men from the row boats, by which the 
embarkation from Morris Island was to be effected. Forty 
barges, manned by proficient oarsmen from the " Palmetto 
State" and " Chicora," each under charge of a navy officer, 
the whole commanded by Lieutenant Ward, Confederate 
States Navy, were in readiness at Cummings Point at dark. 
On Morris Island, Colonel Keitt in command, made all 
necessary arrangements, assisted by Lieutenant-Colonel J. 
G. Pressley, Twenty-fifth South Carolina Volunteers (Eutaw 
Regiment); Major Gardner, Twenty-seventh Georgia Regi- 
ment ; Captain W. P. Crawford, Twenty-eighth Georgia 
Regiment, and Captain T. A. Huguenin, First South Caro- 
lina Infantry, 

The whole day the terrific bombardment had continued, 
adding to the casualties two-fold ; men fell on every side, 
and the litter-bearers and surgeons had their hands full. 
Yet in that solemn hour, in the gloom of the bomb-proof, 
the Rev. Andrew Flinn Dickson, the brave and devoted 
Chaplain of the Twenty-fifth Regiment, conducted the usual 
Sabbath services. Those gathered there were neither afraid 
nor ashamed to pray, and their deep toned voices ascended 
in the sweet songs of praise to the sad accompaniment of 
the groans of the wounded, and the sighs of the dying, 
while around and above them the shriek of balls and burst- 
ing of shells added to the earnestness of worship. A fit 
ending to that memorable siege. 

On the approach of night Companies C and E, of the 
Twenty-fifth Regiment, were ordered to march in from the 
sand hills. This movement, no doubt, created the impres- 
sion that the garrison was being changed, and that fresh 



44 Confederate Defence of Morris Islaiid. 

troops were coming in to relieve those on duty. When 
night closed in Company E, Palmetto Battalion, Light 
Artillery, Captain J. D. Johnson, and the Twenty-eighth 
Georgia, moved out of the fort, and took position in the 
sand hills, between it and Gregg, where the Twenty-seventh 
Georgia had a i2-pounder howitzer, so as to check pursuit 
long enough to enable every one to escape. At the same 
time the wounded were sent back to Cummings Point. Com- 
pany I, Twenty-fifth South Carolina Volunteers, Captain 
Joseph C. Burgess, spread out over the land face of Wagner, 
covering the space that had been occupied by the Twenty- 
eighth Georgia, and kept up a steady fire, so as to induce 
the belief that the fort had been reinforced. 

General Gilmore, in command of the Federal forces, on 
that day issued orders to assault Fort Wagner on the mor- 
row, at 9 A. M., that being the hour of low tide, by the 
troops in command of Brigadier-General Terry, detailing the 
manner of the assault ; and the troops were so disposed in 
the trenches that night. 

THE EVACUATION. 

There is no operation in war more delicate than the evac- 
uation by water of a detached and remote fort, in the near 
presence of the enemy. The Federals were in large force, 
the head of their column in the sap, which had reached the 
moat. Coolness, resolute courage, judgment and inflexi- 
bility on the part of officers, obedience to orders, perfect 
discipline, and a constant sense of the necessity for silence 
on the part of the men, were essential for success. One de- 
serter to the enemy would have defeated it. How easy in 
the darkness and confusion of that night to slip around the 
curtain to the sap, just a few steps beyond, and with one 
word put in motion eleven thousand five hundred Federals. 
That no traitor was there redounds to the eternal credit of 
the garrison, and crowns the record that makes immortal 
the fame of Fort Wagner. 

There was a suspicion in the Federal mind that some 



Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 45 

movement was taking place among the Confederates, but 
whether it was an increase of garrison, or an evacuation, no 
one could determine. To be prepared for any emergency, 
a strong calcium light was thrown upon the fort from one of 
the iron-clads. It was a ghostly glare, which betrayed those 
who watched, instead of those who retreated. Men moved 
about the works without discovery, and the light on the 
front of the fort deepened the darkness on all other sides, 
throwing the shadow of Wagner back over the sand hills all 
the way to Cummings Point. 

At 9 o'clock Sunday night a courier informed Colonel 
Keitt that the boats were at the point in readiness for the 
embarkation. The wounded were first sent off. About 
this time First Sergeant Carson, of Company F, Twenty- 
fifth South Carolina Volunteers, was killed, and Lieutenant 
J. N. McDonald, commanding Company K, Twenty-fifth 
South Carolina Volunteers, mortally wounded. The former 
was buried by his comrades behind the flank wall of 
Wagner, the booming of the enemy's guns and the burst- 
ing of their shells his funeral salute. To the admirable 
discipline of the crews of the barges is mainly due the suc- 
cess of the embarkation. Their boats kept abreast, with the 
length of an oar from the gunwale to the end of the blade 
separating them. The oars thus interlocked never touched 
or interfered with each other. As each detachment left, 
other boats grounded on the beach to receive their load, 
and thus silently and without confusion the embarkation 
was accomplished. 

To the Twenty-fifth Regiment South Carolina Volunteers 
was accorded the honor of bringing up the rear and guard- 
ing the retreat from the fort. As courier after courier ar- 
rived from Cummings Point, with information that the pre- 
vious detachment had embarked, Lieutenant-Colonel Press- 
ley sent off other companies, distributing those remaining 
over the works to keep up the firing. At last only he, 
with Companies I and F, remained. The soft sand echoed 
no foot-step, and no voice was raised above a whisper. 
Even to have spiked the cannon in Wagner would have 



46 Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 

notified the Federals in their sap, not thirty steps away, 
and so the armament was left intact. At midnight the 
fort, which had been tenanted so long, and had withstood 
so much, was without a sentinel to challenge or an artil- 
lerist to fire. Captain Huguenin, with Captain C. C. Pinck- 
ney, of General Ripley's Staff, Captain Edmund Mazyck, 
Ordnance Officer at Wagner, Captain Harry Bryan, of Gen- 
eral Beauregard's Staff, assigned to duty with Colonel Keitt, 
and Lieutenant James Ross, of the Washington Light In- 
fantry, and thirty-five men, selected from the different com- 
mands, were left behind as a rear guard, and to blow up the 
fort. 

At Battery Gregg Captain C. E. Kanapaux. commanding 
the Light Artillery, spiked his guns and embarked his 
company. Captain Henry R. Lesesne, in command of 
Gregg, spiked the guns of that battery, and sent off his 
command. Company H, First South Carolina Artillery; 
and Colonel L. M. Keitt, with the remainder of the garri- 
son, safely and expeditiously embarked about an hour after 
midnight, just as the moon was rising. The signal having 
been given, the fuses were lighted — that at Wagner by Capt. 
Huguenin and that at Gregg by Capt. Lesesne. Every pre- 
caution had been taken to ensure their efficiency, and they 
were so timed that the parties retreating from Wagner could 
embark with those from Gregg, and the destruction of the 
two fortifications occur simultaneously. Capt. Huguenin 
and party remained in Wagner longer than was prudent so 
as to be certain the fuse was burning, and did not leave until 
they had every assurance of success. Capt. Lesesne at Gregg, 
finding that his fuse was burning more rapidly than calcula- 
ted, re-entered the magazine and cut off the lighted end, so 
as to give time for the arrival of the rear guard from Wag- 
ner, and when they were seen approaching he re-lit it. The 
whole party (except Capt. Huguenin, who had fallen to the 
rear on account of a wound in his knee), then embarked in 
the boat commanded by Lieut. Odenheimer (son of the 
Bishop of New Jersey), of the Confederate States Navy. 
About this time the Federal barges were swarming around 



Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 4^ 

Cummings Point, and commanded the adjacent waters. 
Two boats, containing nineteen sailors and twenty-seven 
soldiers of the rear guard, had already been captured ; so 
Lieut. Odenheimer boldly put out to sea under fire of the 
boat howitzers. As they skirted the beach, to the surprise 
of all they were hailed by Capt. Huguenin, who waded out 
to his arm-pits and was drawn into the boat. 

SURPRISE OF FEDERALS. 

"No ONE AT Home!" was the reply received the next 
morning when Gen. Gilmore knocked at the sally-port for 
admission. The elaborate preparation for an assault was 
useless. The Federals walked in quietly and took posses- 
sion. The brief official report of its "capture" (?) hardly 
conceals the chagrin felt at the "escape" of the "once de- 
fiant foe." The fuses which should have given warning of 
evacuated works, like most Confederate fuses, failed to do 
duty. The guns (hereafter enumerated) fell into the hands of 
the Federals, but to them they were only so much old iron, 
or trophies of war. t Nevertheless, to signalize their barren 
victory they replaced with the "Stars and Stripes" the 
little battle flags floating over Wagner and Gregg. 

SUMMARY. 

For fifty-eight days Wagner and Gregg, with a force 
never exceeding sixteen hundred men, had withstood a 
thoroughly equipped army of eleven thousand five hundred 
men, the Ironsides, eight monitors and five gunboats. For 
every pound of sand used in construction or repair of 
Fort Wagner, its assailants had expended two pounds of 
iron in the vain attempt to batter it down. At the end of 
the bombardment, as at the commencement, it stood sullen, 
strong and defiant as ever. The total loss in killed and 
wounded on Morris Island from July loth to September 
7th, was only six hundred and seventy-two men. Deduct- 
ing the killed and wounded due to the landing on the loth 
July and to the assaults of the nth and i8th July, the 



48 Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 

killed and wounded by the terrible bombardment which 
lasted almost uninterruptedly night and day for fifty days, 
only amounted to forty-seven killed and two hundred and 
eighty men wounded, many of whom were but slightly 
injured. 

The days and weeks, lengthening into months, during 
which the gallant defence was prolonged, had been em- 
ployed by Gen. Ripley in erecting batteries along the shores 
of the inner harbor, and in the city itself, in which were 
mounted the heavy guns taken from Fort Sumter. The 
debris of that grim old fortress, with other material brought 
by night from the city under the orders of the Engineer 
Department, and the engineer in charge (being for the most 
part Major John Johnson, C. S, Engineer Corps, now the 
Rector of St. Philip's Church, Charleston), had gradually 
converted it into a powerful earth-work for infantry; its 
brave artillery garrison having been removed to the interior 
and still stronger line of batteries. 

What, then, had the Federals gained by the lavish ex- 
penditure of the material of war, boundless treasure, and 
the fearful sacrifice of life they had sustained during those 
two weary months? The sole object of the occupation of 
Morris Island, as stated by General Gilmore, was " the 
demolition of Sumter as preliminary to the entrance of 
the iron-clads." That accomplished, it was thoug'nt that 
the gate to Charleston would be thrown open to the navy, 
and the "Cradle of Secession" would fall. From the 30th of 
August, 1863, only a morning and evening gun (32-pounder) 
saluted its flag. Sumter was eliminated from the defence 
of the harbor. Yet for eighteen months thereafter the fleet 
remained in the outer harbor, viewing the spires of Charles- 
ton over the low hills of Morris Island, and all this time the 
200 and 300-pounder rifle Parrotts mounted at Cummings 
Point kept up ever and anon an ineffectual fire at St. 
Michael's steeple and other points in the city. It was not 
until the i8th of February, 1865, when a row boat, sent by 
the Municipal authorities of Charleston, informed Admiral 
Dahlgren in the outer harbor that the Confederate forces 



Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 49 

had evacuated the city, and that the frowning batteries 
h"ning the shores of the Ashley and Cooper Rivers were 
without men to man their guns, did his fleet venture to 
enter; then, without fear of torpedo or harbor obstruction, 
did monitors and gunboats steam up to the wharves of the 
city. 

Greek and Roman in ancient history, the English, French 
and German in modern, have their stories of heroic endur- 
ance, steadfast purpose and uncomplaining sacrifice, even 
unto death, but never did Greek, Spartan, Gaul, Teuton 
nor Anglo-Saxon show greater pluck and determination 
than were exhibited by the gallant defenders of Fort Wag- 
ner and Battery Gregg on Morris Island. 

Federal history calls the capture of Wagner a great vic- 
tory. Victory ! Seven Jmndred and forty men driven out 
of a sand hill by eleven thousand five Imndred. Two months 
to advance half a mile towards Charleston. They make 
their boast that Sumter was demolished over Wagner. This 
only teaches the world that sand batteries are more impreg- 
nable than the most solid masonry, especially when MEN 
are behind them who know how to fight them by d^y and 
repair them by night. 

To-day that famed fort is leveled ; its bomb-proofs, para- 
pets and traverses blotted out; not by the iron hail of hos- 
tile batteries, but by the winds of heaven. What the wrath 
of man could not accomplish, the "still small voice" of the 
Almighty has done. 

" Afflavit Deus et dissipantur." 

Ere long the sea, with its white capped waves, will sweep 
athwart this page of our country's history, which has been 
written in blood — even the site of Fort Wagner will be 
gone. Not so its name and fame. Sooner will Thermopylae, 
Marathon, Salamis, Sebastopol, and the other places where 
in the past men have dared, endured and died, be lost to 
memory, than will be forgotten the heroic patience and de- 
voted courage of the soldiers who manned the defences of 
Morris Island. 
7 



50 Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 

OFFICERS IN COMMAND ON MORRIS ISLAND. 

Brigadier-Generals Wm. Taliaferro, Johnson Hagood, T. L. Clingman, and A. 
H. Colquitt ; Colonels Geo. P. Harrison, Jr. and L. M. Keitt. 

CHIEFS OF ARTILLERY. 

Lieutenant-Colonels Jos. A. Yates, John C. Simkins, Del Kemper, J. Wels- 
man Brown ; Major F. F. Warley, and Captains C. E. Chichester, T. A. 
Huguenin and Robert Pringle.* 

ARTILLERY. 

Gist Guard ArtILLEKY — Lieutenant R. C. Gilchrist. 
Matthewes Artillery — Captain J. Raven Matthewes. 
First South Carolina Artillery — 

Company C — Captain C. W. Parker. 

Company E — Captain J. R. Macbeth. 

Company H — Captain H. R. Lesesne. 

Company K — Captain Alfred S. Gaillard. 

Company I — Captain John C. Mitchell. 
Second South Carolina Artillery— 

Company A — Lieutenant Robert S. Millar. 

Company F — Captain Thos. K. Legate, 
First South Carolina Infantry, as Artillery— 
, Company A — Captain T. A. Huguenin. 

Company B — Captain W. H. Tatem.* 

Company D — Captain Charles T. Haskell. 

Company H — Captain Warren Adams. 
Lucas' Battalion Artillery — 

Company A — Captain John H. Gary. 

Company B — Captain Robt. Pringle.* 

Company C — Captain T. B. Hayne. 
Palmetto Battalion Artillery— 

Company E — Captain J. D. Johnson. 

Company G — Captain W. L. DePass. 
South Carolina Siege Train — Company B, Lieutenant Ralph Nesbit. 
Twelfth Battalion Georgia Artillery— Company A, Captain G. N. 

Hanvey. 
Sixty-third Regiment Georgia Artillery — 

Company B — Captain James T. Buckner. 

Company K— Captain W, J. Dixon. 
Marion Artillery — Captain Edward L. Parker, Lieutenants John P. Stro- 
hecker, Robert S. Murdoch, Martin L. Wilkins and Henry D. Lowndes. 
Chatham Artillery — Lieutenants S. B. Palmer and T. A. Askew. 
Blake Artillery— Lieutenant T. D. Waties. 



* Killed in Wagner. 



Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 51 

CAVALRY (AS COURIERS). 

South Carolina Rangers — (Captain Zimmerman Davis) Lieutenants Geo. 
Tupper, J. P. DeVeaux, Jr., Geo. H. Smith. 

INFANTRY. 
Seventh South Carolina Battalion — Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick H. 

Nelson. 

Twentieth South Carolina Volunteers— (Colonel Keitt) Lieutenant- 
Colonel Olen Dantzler and Major E. Boykin. 

Twenty-first South Carolina Volunteers— Colonel R. F. Graham, 
Lieutenant-Colonel Dargan and Major G. W. Mclver. 

Company A — Captain J. H. Read. 

Company B — Captain S. H. Wilds. 

Company D — Captain M. H. Tarrh. 

Company E — Captain B. F. Davis. 

Company F — Captain J. A, W. Thomas. 

Company G — Captain R. VV, Reddy. 

Company H — Lieutenant J. H. Dalrymple. 

Company I — Captain R. G. Howard. 

Company K — Captain J. W. Owens. 

Company L — Captain H. Legette. 
Twenty-fifth South Carolina Volunteers— (Colonel C. H. Simon- 
ton in command of James Island) Lieutenant Colonel J. G. Pressley and 
Major John V. Glover. 

Company A (Washington Light Infantry) — Lieutenant H. B. Olney.* 

Company B (Washington Light Infantry) — Lieutenant R. A. Blum.f 

Company C (Wee Nee Volunteers) — Captain T. J. China. 

Company D (Marion Light Infantry) — Captain W. J. McKerrall. 

Company E (Beauregard Light Iiilantry) — Lieutenant A. J. Minis. 

Company F (St. Matthewes Rifles) — Captain M. II. Sellers. 

Company G (Edisto Rifles) — Captain J. F. Izlar. 

Company H (Yeadon Light Infantry) — Captain Leroy F. Hammond. 

Company I (Clarendon Rifles) — Captain Jos. C. Burgess. 

Company K (Ripley Guards) — Captain W. B. Gordon. 
Charleston Battalion — Lieutenant-Colonel P. C. Gaillard,|: Major David 
Ramsay. § 

Company A (Calhoun Guards) — Captain F. T. Miles. 

Company B (Charleston Light Infantry) Captain Thos. Y. Simons. 

Company C (Union Light Infantry and German Fusiliers) — Captain 
S. Lord, Jr. 

Company D (Sumter Guards) — Captain J. Ward Hopkins. 

Company E (Irish Volunteers) — Captain W. H. Ryan.|| 

Company F (Charleston Riflemen) — Captain Julius A. Blake. 

* Captain J. M. Carson absent on sick leave. 

t Killed in Wagner. % Lost an arm. § Mortally woundeJ. || Killed in Wugner. 



52 Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 

Eighth Nokth Carolina Volunteers — Colonel Henry M. Shaw, Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel James M. Whitson, Majoi- John R. Murchison. 

Company A — Captain Daniel A. Sawyer. 

Company B — Captain Thomas J. Jarvis. 

Company C — Captain Charles A. Barron. 

Company D — Captain Andrew J. Rogers. 

Company E — Captain Luther R. Breese. 

Company F — Captain Leonard A. Henderson. 

Company G — Captain Amos J. Hines. 

Company H — Captain Rufus A. Barrier. 

Company I — Captain Junius N. Ramsay. 

Company K — Captain Pinckney A. Kennedy. 
Thirty-fiest North Carolina Volunteers— Colonel John V. Jordan, 
Lieutenant-Colonel Charles W. Knight, Major John A. D. McKay. 

Company A — Captain Samuel P. Collins. 

Company B — Captain James T. Bradley. 

Company C — Captain William J. Long. 

Company D — Captain Ruffin L. Bryant. 

Company E — Captain John J. Allison. 

Company F — Captain Stephen W. Morrisett. 

Company G — Captain Isaac Pipkin. 

Company H — Captain John Smith. 

Company I — Captain W. A. Dewar. 

Company K — Captain Joseph Whitty. 
Fifty-first North Carolina Volunteers— Colonel Hector McKethan, 
Lieutenant-Colonel Caleb B. Hobson, Major James R. McDonald. 

Company A — Captain Edward Southerland. 

Company B— Captain Walter R. Bell. 

Company C — Captain Samuel M. Stanford. 

Company D — Captain Robert J. McEachan. 

Company E — Captain Willis H. Pope. 

Company F — Captain William S. Norment. 

Company G — Captain James W. Lippett. 

Company H — Captain Samuel W. Maultsby. 

Company I — Captain George Sloan. 

Company K — Captain William J. Murphy. 
Sixty-first North Carolina Volunteers — Colonel James D. Radcliffe, 
Lieutenant-Colonel William S. Devane, Major Henry Harding. 

Company A — Captain James H. Robinson. 

Company B — Captain William N. Stevenson. 

Company C — Captain Edward Mallet. 

Company D — Captain Nathan A. Ramsey. 

Company E — Captain William S. Byrd. 
Company F — Captain Andrew J. Moore. 

Company G — Captain Lemuel L. Keith. 
Company H — Captain William B. Lanier. 
Company I — Captain William T. Choat. 
Company K — Captain Samuel W. Noble. 



Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 53 

First Volunteer Regiment of Georgia— Colonel C. IT. Olmsted. 
Eighteenth Georgia Battalion (S.-ivannnh Volunteer Guards)— Major 
W. S. Bassinger. 

Nineteenth Georgia Regiment — Colonel Andrew J. Ilutchins. 

Twenty-third Georgia Regiment— Colonel James H. Huggins; Major 
M. R. Ballinger. 

Twenty-seventh Georgia Regiment— Major Gardner. 

Twenty-eighth Georgia Regiment— Captain W. P. Crawford. 

Thirty-second Georgia Regiment — Colonel (afterwards Brigadier-Gen- 
eral) Geo. P. Harrison, Jr. 

These commands were stationed generally on James 
Island, and detachments from them served at Fort Wagner 
and Battery Gregg three days at a time.. There were never 
more than sixteen hundred men on Morris Island at one 
time ; often this force was reduced below one thousand. 
Just before the evacuation it amounted to but seven hun- 
dred and fifty. The artillerists generally served six or 
seven days before relieved. Every effort has been made to 
have the list complete and correct. The responses from 
North Carolina having been most full, the names of com- 
pany commanders could be given. 



54 Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 

CASUALTIES. 



Commissioned Enlisted. Grand Total 



Commands. 



1st South Carolina Infantry. . 
20th " " " . . 

2ist " " " . . 

25th " " " .. 

Charleston Battalion 

1st South Carolina Artillery. . 
2d " " " .. 

P. B. L. Artillery 

Siege Train . . 

Lucas' Battalion Artillery. . . . 

Gist Guard Artillery 

Matthewes Artillery 

Marion Artillery 

7th South Carolina Battalion. 
8th North Carolina Troo])s. . . 
51st " " " ... 

6ist " " " ... 

1st Georgia Volunteers 

i8th " " 

28th " " 

63d " " 

32d " " 

I2th Georgia Battalion 

Staff. 

Totals 



44 



9 
I 
no 

lOI 

39 

58 
3 



62 



9 
18 

115 

109 

46 

66 

3 

2 

28 
3 
3 
I 

18 

60 

2 

7 

5 

22 

TO 

8 
4 
4 



56 

10 

2 

62 



118 499 145129I543 149 



ARMAMENT OF FORT WAGNER, AUGUST 21, 1863. 



(Commencing on East, or Sea Face.) 

1. 8-inch S. C. Howitzer on curtain, bearing on the land ; in good working 

order, 

2. lo-inch Columbiad on sea face ; unserviceable chassis ; disabled. 

3. lo-inch Columbiad on sea face, to bear on beach ; in good working order. 

4. 32-pounder Smooth-bore on sea face, to bear on beach ; in good working 

order. 

5. 8-inch Siege Howitzer on land face in salient ; in good working order. 

6. 42-pounder Carronade on land face ; in good working order. 
8-inch Naval Shell Gun on land face ; in good working order. 
32-pounder Smooth-bore on land face ; in good working order. 
32-pounder Smooth-bore on land face; carriage injured, but could be 

worked. 
8-inch Naval Shell Gun on land face ; carriage much injured, but could 

be worked. 
32-pounder Carronade on land face. 



Confederate Defence of Morris Island. 55 

12. 32-pounder Carronade on land face. 

13. 8-inch Siege Howitzer on land face. 

14. lo-inch Mortar at Western gorge. 

15. 32-pounder Carronade at Western gorge. 
These last five in good working order. 

ARMAMENT OF BATTERY GREGG. 

One lo-inch Columbiad. 
One g-inch Dahlgren. 
Detachment of Light Artillery, 

Garrison — Infantry, 794 ; Artillery, 240 ; Cavalry, 10 ; Sharp-shooters, 14 ; 
Total, 1,058. 

Every effort has been made to procure a correct roster of 
the Engineers, Surgeons, Chaplains, Sharp-Shooters and 
Signal Corps serving on Morris Island, but the responses 
were so ineagre that to avoid an invidious distinction the 
partial list is not published. 

R. C. GILCHRIST, 
Late Major C. S. P. Artillery. 



013 673 620 



